Man, I had the hardest time finding a chicken cordon bleu recipe in my French cookbooks. Turns out that this dish isn’t French at all; it was created in the US and we added the “cordon bleu” to make it sound awesome. And in that respect, it totally worked.

The challenge with making a grain-free chicken cordon bleu lies in its crispy outer crust, which is usually achieved through flour and bread crumbs. I experimented a bit and found that a combination of coconut flour and potato starch worked best: the coconut flour surprisingly doesn’t leave any sweet/coconuty flavor behind, and the potato starch creates a crisp, delicate shell around the chicken.

You’ll Need:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 slices ham, cut in half (we used Applegate’s uncured organic ham)
4 slices swiss cheese, cut in half
1/2 cup each coconut flour and potato starch
3 eggs, beaten
plastic wrap and a dozen toothpicks
1/2 cup coconut oil

You first step is to cover the chicken breasts with plastic wrap and lightly pound them until they are evenly flattened. To pound them, we use the flat end of this tenderizer. Also, you want to pound them with the “rib meat” part of them facing down.

Now comes the hardest part. Flip the breasts so the “rib meat” part is facing up, then place the ham and cheese on top in the order you see above. Starting at the thinnest side of the breast when looking at it length-wise, tightly roll the breast together. The ham and cheese should start at the beginning of the roll, not centered in the breast. Secure the part where the chicken meets with two toothpicks. If you do this the way I did it, one of the sides will have extra chicken falling out, so pin that side in, too.

Lightly pat the chicken with a dry paper towel. Prepare three dishes in the following order: coconut flour, egg, and potato starch.

I know, it looks pretty ugly right now

Dip your chicken into the coconut flour and cover it evenly, then dip it into the egg and coat it evenly, and then roll it in the potato starch. Your hands are going to get messy.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and heat the coconut oil in a pan on med heat for five minutes. Brown each side of the chicken, which should only take a minute or two per side.

Place the browned chickens in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Check the internal temperature after 15 minutes, if it reads 160 degrees you’re good to go. If they aren’t there yet, leave them in the oven for another 3-5 minutes. Take the chicken out and let them rest for 5 minutes, and remove the toothpicks before slicing.